LANSING – Michigan is one of several legislatures considering bills to legalize psychedelic-assisted therapy with compounds such as psilocybin. To gauge Michigan voters’ interest in legalizing psychedelics, Reason Foundation solicited opinions through online platforms Amazon Turk and Pollfish. A majority of the 450 respondents who identified as registered voters in Michigan told Reason Foundation they supported professionally supervised psychedelic-assisted mental health treatment.
This support for psychedelic legalization matches a larger national poll by University of California Berkeley researchers. That 2023 online and phone hybrid UC Berkeley Center for the Science of Psychedelics poll of 1,500 registered voters found, “More than six out of ten (61 percent) American registered voters support legalizing regulated therapeutic access to psychedelics, including 35 percent who report ‘strong’ support.”
Michigan support for legalized, regulated psychedelics market
After Oregon and Colorado passed statewide ballot initiatives legalizing professionally supervised psychedelic services, legislators in other states, including California, Arizona, and New Jersey, have begun introducing legalization bills for similar regulated psychedelic markets.
In Reason Foundation’s online survey of Michigan voters, respondents were asked two questions after being given a brief background about the issue (which is available in full in the methodological notes below). The first was, “Would you support or oppose a state bill that allowed licensed mental health professionals to prescribe psychedelic substances, such as psilocybin, to patients who have a diagnosable mental illness?”
In merging the results to Reason Foundation’s questions on the Amazon Mturk and Pollfish platforms, 65% of registered voters in Michigan said they supported allowing licensed health professionals to legally prescribe psychedelics, 15% opposed, and 19% had no opinion.
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